MuckPls vs BigWhale - a WSOP June TR

GL to you too! I am positive we will get to chat at the final table of Salute!

Jet lag is insane, just had my first 5 hours of sleep since I landed. Perfect timing for Aria 1/3 tho!

Probably gonna play until the morning

Leon if you are reading:

I’m not going degen this trip, main focus is on poker, but just have to say that the situation at MGM is a disaster.

Park MGM: 3 banks of UX, all three removed. One mediocre $1 machine left on the floor but game selection on that one is terrible.

Aria: the last remaining 8 banks of UX outside of the high limit room were just removed. So were the 6 banks at the rewards desk. Only option now is at one of the bars or there is 2 just opposite of the poker room.

What’s up with the Wynn, any changes?

I fear that VP is taking a serious hit in Vegas.

Absolutely sick drinking game at PH. Tequila is flowing and we are up a **** ton!

I also flopped quad aces with 2 minutes to go for $50.

- Drunk: check
- profit: check
- sleep: ????

Went from being down $700 to cashing out a $50 profit. I also won $400 on UX, even after bricking this one:

Now we are at Henry’s, then time to sleep AGAIN.

I just CANNOT sleep it’s actually insane. So instead we are in the 2/5 streets, buried deep:

Adding PH to the list of rooms I need to check out, must have re-opened pretty recently.

I’ve heard stories from a decade ago about their room that was in the “Pleasure Pit”, 4 hours logged getting you a buffet pass. I assume that’s all gone now.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It’s upstairs now, pretty well hidden from the casino floor. Not saying games are bad, just not my kind of action really. The 1/3 game was a nit fest. I moved over to the 2/3 table and that was much better but still a bit less action than I am used to. I was driving the action straddling and ordering shots.

Yesterday afternoon after being at the pool I was checking Bravo, and noticed that there was hardly any list at Aria. With that being just a short walk over from NYNY, I got tempted to head over and find a game.

After waiting for around 15 minutes, I got a seat in the temporary area pictured above (no shuffle machines), and bought in for $400. At first glance the table looked to have way too many young Asians, but it wasn't terrible by any means. Probably a typical Vegas table for the summer, with some compentent players but also some very clear spots.

One of these was a young 'frat boy' looking guy, who I overheard telling another player that he had a home game with some friends that he usually plays in. He was a lot of action at times, but I could tell that his playing style was very erratic and not very sound theoretically. He is also involved in the first hand, where he limps button, SB completes, and I find AsQs in BB. I make it $20, and button calls while SB folds out.

The flop comes 7-3-2 one spade, and I decided to bet $20 again. He calls fairly quickly. Turn is a 4, but not a spade. I think I make a mistake by betting $45 here, because logically he is not folding enough that he called on the flop with to this card. On the contrary, it could have made him stronger. In my defense, I have turned a little bit of equity and I just thought that this guy would call way too wide on the flop, even with stuff like KQ or Ace high. Not this time though, as he raises to $200 and I have to fold.

A bit later he makes it $7 from UTG (weirdly small), and I call in 3rd pos with 99. Button also calls, and we go 3-ways to 7-4-5 two diamonds. UTG checks, I bet $12 and button is the only caller. Turn comes another 7, and I think this is a good card to continue to bet on. He is way more likely to have draws than 7x even from the button, so I make it $26 and get an insta-fold.

Then we raise AQcc from UTG to $12, and get calls from a middle aged guy in hijack and an older Asian on the button. The flop comes T-T-6 one club. Maybe I could bet here, but I decided to check. Plan was to check-call, but after MP checks behind the Asian bets $30. I didn't feel like calling for that sizing OOP, especially has I had already seen that this guy was not the folding type. So I chose to just let it go.

Then we get a fun spot versus frat boy. It folds to him in the cutoff, and he makes it $10. I have QTcc in SB and decided to 3-bet to $37. Bit thin, but I think this guy is opening fairly wide and that my hand plays best when I have the lead. He thinks for a bit and calls.

We see J-T-6 one club and two hearts on the flop, which is not too bad all things considered. I actually decided to check here, as I didn't want to be blown off my equity. Furthermore, we give him the chance to blast off. He does so, with a bet of $50. Fairly hefty, but an easy call once I check the flop. Turn comes a 7, which fills 89 but should otherwise be a blank. I check again, and he quickly throws out $75.

I was a bit torn on this street, but I had seen too much weird stuff from this guy to fold. He had been caught in some random bluffs, and there didnt seem to be much structuring and logic behind his bluffing. So I decided to call once more, hoping that river goes check-check.

The river in question is a random black 3, and after I check he instantly jams for $165. I have slightly less behind, and in hindsight I could maybe have considered to just check-jam turn myself over his bet given the stack sizes. The idea behind this is obviously that we get him to call off with his draws (such as a flush draw), but we won't get anything more if we just call and he misses river. Unless he decides to bluff with a missed draw, that is.

Either way, I took a little bit of time with this one - even going through what his bluffs and value are. For bluffs we obviously have missed hearts, as well as hands like KQ or AQ. For value we have straights and sets and.. not much more? I just didn't think this guy was sophisticated enough to go for 3 streets with AJ here when I have called him twice. I think many players will just check that down on the river. And I would have expected more thought by him on the river if so, instead of this insta-jam. It sort of felt like he had made up his mind already, and with this guys splashy playing style I just couldn't justify a fold.

I flicked in the call, and see the beautiful sight of him being unwilling to show his hand. But eventually he flicks up K6hh for pair + flush draw on flop that failed to improve. It felt good to make a correct hero call, especially since I thought I played the hand decently and had a calm thought process on the river.

Not a stack picture, but here is a picture for variation:

Then we play a very weird hand, which starts with me raising AKo from UTG to $12. Old Asian in SB calls, and then our frat-boy friend jams his remaining $40 USD. I make it $105 to isolate, only to see the old Asian guy almost insta-call my bet. Very strange and not something I expected, thus I didn't think I needed to go any higher than what I did.

I am praying for a good flop, but instead we get Q-J-3 and him immediately leading for $150 (!). I frustratingly fold as there is no way he is bluffing here. Sure, the sidepot is decently big but he still has to beat the all-in player. And that he does, with his KQo. Sadly our young friend leaves the game after this hand (he had Q7o, wp). Very annoying pot to lose when I dominated the Asian pre, but after observing this guy more I am not sure if there is any sizing that I could have chosen to get him to fold. Even if I jammed for his $300 effective to isolate, he might just have shrugged and called anyway.

I got him back a bit later when I raise Q9cc from 3rd position to $12 (might be a bit too loose), and get calls from a decent player in hijack and the Asian in BB. The flop comes 8-6-5 two clubs, which is pretty cool. Asian checks, and I decided to check with the intention of check-raising if the player in position bet. That said, I should probably just have started a bet myself as my hand can easily call a raise. It checks around.

Turn comes another 5 and the Asian now leads for $20. I could obviously raise here, but my draw is not that amazing anymore with the board pairing and this guy has no fold-button. So I just called to try and hit my hand, and hijack folds. The river card is almost too perfect, as it comes 7c. He checks, and I am not sure what to put him on but he obviously doesn't like to fold. I bet $56 into $77, but could maybe have gone even higher. But unfortunately it didn't matter this time, as he mumbled a bit to himself asking why the seven had to come, and folded. That said, I don't think he ever folded a 5 there.

Then we get a limped pot 4-ways, where I have K4o. The flop comes K-8-4 two diamonds, and in hindsight I checked too quickly here. For value I can however lead out immediately here, and instead use my big draws (like 75 of diamonds or similar) as check-raises here to gain more fold-equity. But as it was I checked, and the Asian bets $10 when it gets to him in cutoff. I check-raise to $40 and he calls fairly quickly.

Turn is a black 6, which shouldn't change much unless he has K6 suited (certainly in his range). I bet $65 and he thinks for a bit and calls again. I am praying for a blank river, and get one in 3c. A backdoor flush did come in though, but I didn't think that was of a gigantic concern. The pot has now grown to around $220, and in hindsight I maybe bet too small here - I made it $85. It looks a bit too value-ish, but in my defense I thought a single K was his most likely holding (KT or similar) and didn't want to give him a reason to fold. That said, against this player type I could probably have gone $120-$150 with same result.

He starts thinking, and I immediately see that he is not contemplating a raise. He starts muttering to himself and asks if I have a King, but eventually lands on a call. That is good news, and my hand is obviously good. He claimed afterwards to have K3 suited for rivered two pair, but I am not sure if I believe him. Why would he then be worried that I had a King? He might have been lying to save face, and it's not like I have never done that myself either.

A new female player have joined the game, which took up most of the old Asian's attention from then onwards. The woman was probably in her late 30s, and apparently a former poker pro who was Australia's female player of the year in 2019 (she divulged this to the Asian in conversation). This means that we can pin-point her to be Connie Graham:

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player....

That poor woman had to endure a ton of conversation from the old Asian (certainly in his 60s) and I could tell she got very annoyed with it as time went on. It didn't sound like he was inappropriate, but he was clearly trying to impress her even after she had told him she is married etc. After this guy got stacked and left the table I joked with her that she could take off her earbuds now, and we had a good laugh about the situation.

Anyway, I digress. Let's go back to the game. It folds to her on the button and she raises to $15. I could tell that she was a decent player although I didn't have much information on her yet. I find a red AKo in BB and decide to 3-bet to $61. That was the intention as well, but I somehow had a brain freeze and threw out $101 (!). No idea how I got to that number, and I was not stoic enough to not react when I saw the amount I had put out there.

That gave her an excuse to move all-in for around $250, and considering the situation and that I could tell she was a decent player it was an easy call for me. The board ran out Q-T-9-8-5 or something, but thankfully she also showed up with AKo for a chop.

I then got super card-dead for a while, and the few hands I played did not work out either. I raised hands like AKss and AQcc, but both times got 3 callers and was nowhere near connecting. But mostly I just sat there and folded for at least an hour, while having to listen to the old Asian in his incomprehensible English trying to talk to above-mentioned Connie all the time.

I did however execute a cool play against her when it once again folded to her on the button and she made it $15. I have a very tight image now after folding for ages, so when I look down at A6o in BB I decided to make it $61 (correctly this time). She folded quickly, and although this hand would normally never be in my range I though the spot was very good to just pick it up pre.

But mostly I was just slowly bleeding down from the high point of around $700 without losing much at a time. But then we get the most interesting spot of the night. A young-ish guy had replaced the old Asian after he busted against his new female 'friend', and so far he had played a mixture of some limps and some raises. My impression was that he didn't seem super compentent. He raises to $15 from early position, I call in cutoff with 22 and BB also calls.

9-7-2 two diamonds is an above average flop, and after BB checks the raiser bets $30. Fairly big into $46, so I hope that he really likes his hand. I am obviously going to fast-play (and balance that out with raising some diamond draws), so I make it $105. BB folds out, but the raiser calls fairly quickly. Oh, that feeling when you know you are going to play a big pot.

Turn comes 5d, which is not my absolute favorite. I don't have to be worried about 86 for the straight most likely, but a diamond draw with two high cards could obviously be in his range. He checks, and I bet $140. In hindsight, I don't like this sizing and this is a problem I have sometimes when scare cards some in. I continue to bet, but I don't bet big enough. Not that $140 into $255-ish is terrible, but really good players might pick up on the fact that I am not 100% secure in my hand anymore.

Opponent calls quickly again, and we see Qc on the river. He almost immediately jams in front for $260-ish, and I am seriously confused. I ask for a count and take my time with it, because this is not a snap-call in my opinion. I lose to 99, 77 and now also QQ, plus all flushes. But there is something weird here. He called very quickly on turn, wouldn't he at least considered a jam when I continue to show strength? Also, if he ran into QQ wouldn't he pause for a few seconds there as well to consider what he wanted to do?

The whole pacing of the hand didn't make sense to me, and as I mentioned above I didn't think this guy was a seasoned player. As of such, I really thought he could over value hands like AA and KK, but these are obviously the only ones I beat. But as Bart Hanson says, he don't like to fold hands high up in range at low stakes, simply because he have seen so much sh*t throughout the years.

I flick in the call and opponent seem a bit deflected. I had gone through some of my thought process out loud (I like to do that in difficult spots sometimes), and also told him 'I apologize in advance if I am slow rolling you'. I meant nit-rolling, but that's perhaps not a term that everyone is as familiar with. So I am sure he knew he was beat when I called, and he indeed 'only' showed up with AA. In game I didn't notice if he had Ad or not, as I was too busy raking in chips.

I stayed around for 45 minutes more after this hand, but was mostly card-dead and gave back a little of the profit. Most of it came in a weird hand where I raise BTN to $12 with 89cc and only BB call. This was a guy in his 30s who didn't speak much and seemed a bit annoying, and his style was to mostly sit quiet but almost always 3-bet when he played. This time he only called, and we see J-6-2 one club. Just about good enough to start a bet on, so after he checks I make a small wager of $10. He calls.

Turn comes another 2, and although I have not picked up anything I would continue to bet all my Jx and overpairs here. Heck, I might even find bets with 77-TT as well, targeting a six. So after he checks I bet $35, as I suspected he was calling wide on the flop and I should have a very tight image with all the folding I have been doing. He does however call once more.

River is a 9, which I thought was a great card as I am now beating all 6x plus lower pairs like 33 and 44 etc. He checks, and I decided to just check back as I didn't want to valuetown myself against Jx. He does however show up with A9o for a better kicker, which seems very wide. I guess he really didn't believe me, although props to him for finding two calls there with Ace high (which was good).

A bit later I cashed out after 4 hours of play, with a chill profit of $669 USD. It felt very good after the big loss at Caesars the day before, plus the early tourney bust out from MGM Grand. I then went into the Vegas-night and walked 'home' to NYNY as I was getting quite tired.

After spending way too much time on this TR now, I am going to hit up the gym and get in a really good workout. After that I will likely just find somewhere to play cash, as I have no tourney on my schedule today and I want to be rested before my WSOP-debut tomorrow ($500 Salute to Warriors). As I am going to buy-in with cash I obviously need up be up early and over there at least an hour before the tournament starts I think. There will likely be lines to register and a big turnout, after all.

(can anyone tell me if I can just register for the tourney now on the app, or must I wait until I physically have bought in?)

Cash Games:

Hours played: 9h 45min
Won/lost: -$164 USD
Hourly rate: -$16.8 USD

Tournaments:

Won/lost: -$152 USD (3 played)

Another 2 hour session in the books. Wanted to stay longer but was stuck $800. Clawed my way back to a $500 profit thanks to the following two hands:

Hand 1: guy opens to $25 I call A9o we go HU to a flop of AT3. He bets $55 I call. Turn 9 he bets $55 again I make it $160 he calls. River is a J I jam and we win vs AK

Hand 2: I 3b QQ, guy in mid position makes it $200, I just call. Flop QJ5r. I check to induce, he jams $300 and we good vs AA.

Walking over to the MGM Grand now and then we’ll see.

Final stop before sleep:

Game is absolutely horrible, not sure what I’m doing here.

MGM Grand was anything but grand so I left up $150. Bought some snacks and food and now it’s time to chill in the room with a movie and then sleep. Meanwhile Mr PLO roommate is battling at the 5/5/10/20 streets, what an insane guy!

Score so far:

It’s pretty bad in terms of hours, not really what I wanted when I planned the trip but two reasons for this:

1, I have barely slept and it affects my play. I don’t want to be stuck millions first couple of days.

2, I keep getting into spots where I am only up a few hundred $ but have absolutely insane stacks at the table and again I don’t really feel comfortable right now playing for potential $4-5000 hands at 1/3.

3, it’s probably a mental trigger too. October was bad, March was a complete and utter **** show so I really need to be careful both in terms of bankroll and in terms of leaving the table in profit.

Once I am rested I plan to really start the grind and will start to play 12-16 hour days.

All gone, including the buffet. I still have a bunch of unused passes.

BW, seems strange for something something player of year in the Aria 1/3, but I seldom play there. Nice job navigating all that.

Meanwhile, I'm watching LeMans on tv.

Good luck tomorrow in the Salute.

I love these chess pieces!

Falling behind on updates, but here is a summary of yesterday (Saturday):

---------------------

After a lazy morning and a great workout at the NYNY gym, it was time to finally play some poker. The plan was to head out to Venetian and park myself there for many hours, however when I looked at the waitlists something felt a bit off (they were unusually short). I also knew they were having a Senior Event today, so I had a suspicion those two things were related.

Unfortunately I didn't think to check Twitter before I had already taken the Monorail over to Harrahs. And indeed; Venetian had announced that they would likely suspend cash games for a couple of hours due to a high volume of players expected for this Senior tournament. I felt pretty stupid having wasted an hour or something of my day without checking this properly. I considered heading to Wynn, but they had over 50 people on the wait list. I also considered walking over to Resorts World, but it was way too hot to even attempt that.

So in lack of better options I found myself at Horseshoe a bit later (took the Monorail back). The idea was to jump into a game there, and it also dawned on me that I could probably do the registration for the $500 Salute to Warriors tournament tomorrow.

I got a seat in a $1/$3 game almost immediately and bought in for $300 (that's the max). It was a very weird session where I was super card-dead most of the time, but there was some interesting spots at least. Let us run through those.

First one is when there are two limps for $3, and I make it $18 from the button with AK. Only the second limper calls, and we see J-6-2 spread out by the dealer. Seems harmless enough, so after he checks I bet $15. He calls, and another J lands on the turn. He checks again, and I decided to bet $35, which got a quick fold from my opponent.

Bart Hanson have often talked about this; that even though it reduces the chance of me holding top pair (combo-wise), recreational players often get scared when top pair pairs. So you get more fold-equity there than you should have.

Then we find JJ from UTG and make it $12 to go. EP1 calls, then cutoff tries to call but accidentally throws out $20. Since that is more than 50% of a legal raise, he has to min-raise to $21. This action does not deter the player in BB who cold-calls the $21, although he has been quite sticky so far.

With all the dead money out there and the guy who 'reraised' only having around $100 back this becomes a very easy spot. I make it $125 and everyone folds out. Nice little pickup there, and we have gotten a decent start.

After that I lost a few small pots though, such as when I raise TT to $15 over a limp from the sticky guy mentioned above (we are both in early pos). He is the only caller, and we go heads-up to the Q-6-5 flop with two clubs. He checks, and I bet $15 again to charge club draws and pairs below mine a bit, although in hindsight I think I should have sized up a bit.

He calls, and we see 9c on turn. Pretty bad card as both the flush and an open-ended straight comes in. So after he checks, I decide to check it back and hopefully just get cheaply to showdown. River comes a J, and he leads for $30. There is practically nothing that I beat here, and I am not sure which bluff the opponent will have here. So I have to fold.

I also tried to flop a set with some small pocket pairs (44 and 55) without succeding, and along with being quite card-dead otherwise I tricle down under the original buy-in.

Then we have an interesting spot, where UTG limps in for $3, another player limps, and then the guy who misclick-raised earlier makes it $6 (lol-sizing). That deters no one behind him as most players call, and I have 64o in BB. Felt a bit borderline pre, but I am practically closing the action (I don't expect UTG to limp-reraise ever) and I have a hand that shouldn't give me a ton of trouble post. So I call.

We go 6-ways to the Q-8-5 rainbow flop, and it actually checks around. Turn is a 3, so I suddenly have an open-ender. SB checks, and I decided to bet $20 here as I strongly doubt anyone have a Queen. I can however represent one, and I also have a draw to fall back on if I get called. Only the original raiser calls, which makes he think that his hand could be a random pocket pair below a Queen. He could also have picked up a flush draw as the 3 was the second spade. But I am thinking that if no spade comes on the river, this pot could be mine to win.

River comes another Q, which is not my favorite card but not the worst either. Because as I said above, I think people overfold when top pair pairs. The pot is around $70 and he has around $90 left, and although I first thought to go around $50-ish I changed my mind and decided to move all-in. We have to put all his pocket pairs that are lower than Qx in a difficult spot, after all.

He does however call very quickly, which is not good news as I am left with 6 high. I proudly flick it over, and he shows pocket threes for a turned set and rivered boat. A bit annoying, but I don't hate the way I played it. Is it a bit unnecessary to blast off with 6 high in a $1/$3 game? Maybe, but my read was spot on that he didn't have a Queen. It's just a bit unlucky that he ran into a set on the turn, as I think my play would have worked otherwise.

No fun being down over $100 suddenly though, and after this hand I got almost nothing to play with for at least an hour. I just had to fold, fold, fold and try to stay disciplined. I was however not disciplined in the next hand I play, where finally I pick up A9dd in BB after three limps. I make it $20, and get calls from the second limper + the sticky guy in SB. Feels a bit weird that he should have a hand here, but ok.

3-ways to the flop then, which comes T-T-3 no diamond. I have completely whiffed and I should spare my continues here to boards where there is at least one diamond. Instead I got impatient and thought that I can probably win this one if neither has a pocket pair. So I throw out $20, only to see the first player call and then SB check-raises to $100. I fold quickly, feeling a bit frustrated with myself as that was twenty bucks I didn't have to lose. I need to be 100% consentrated in these multi-way spots and not try to force it on a board where I have nothing going on.

(they had T8ss and 33 respectively and the former got stacked and left the game).

Then back to more folding for at least 45 minutes, before a guy from Switzerland makes it $10 from EP. The sticky guy in cutoff makes it $20, and I look down at black Aces! Pretty amazing spot, although I am only playing around $220 as I hadn't topped off recently. So I have to keep my sizing in check here to not seem 100% committed to the pot, and thus I only make it $65. The original raiser folds quickly, and sticky guy calls.

We see a very good K-4-6 flop with two hearts, and after he checks dark I decide to split up my stack in two bets. I make it $45 and he calls. The pot was already $140 and I had around $160 left, but I thought jamming would be a bit of an overkill here. I am obviously making myself very pot-committed by not jamming here (the classic 'reverse free-card' concept), but with Aces I am going to take that risk. Opponent hems and haws a bit, and I detect genuine insecurity before he finally calls.

Turn is another K, which at first sight seems bad. He checks again, and I debated checking back to see what he does. But then I think back to his mannerism on turn, where he mumbled to himself and genuniely seemed to have a tough decision. I don't think a King would act that way, and I don't want to let off a free card in case he is on a flush draw. So we go all-in for $111 or something like that, and after around 20 seconds in the box my opponent makes the call.

That has to be good news; I turn over my AA and he sighs and turns over QQ. A blank river and I am suddenly back into a small profit:

I lost a little bit of it back though, most in a hand where a new-ish female player to the table (mid-40s?) raises to $10. She had been raising quite a fair bit since arriving maybe 30-40 minutes earlier, and it just felt like she was opening a tad too wide. So when I find AJo I raise it up to $37 in cutoff. It then folds to BB, who is the epithome of a US recreational player; big guy with grey hair and beard and mostly limping in pre-flop. He cold-calls my raise, and big alarm-bells go off in my hand.

The original raiser also calls, and we see 9-6-2 on the flop. With no connection and the cold-caller likely having 99-QQ, I am done with this hand. Both check to me, and I just check it back. Turn comes another 2, and BB loads up a bet of $40. Original raiser folds, and I fold while telling the guy that his pocket Jacks are good. He says he has better than that, and shows us QQ (ldo).

I did however win a small pot a bit later, and eventually took the gigantic profit of.. $5 USD after 4 hours of play. Better than losing I guess. Obviously it could have been a decent winner if I didn't blast off with 6 high earlier, as although I think my reasoning was solid it was maybe a bit optimistic into a 6-way pot.

I then headed to the WSOP area at Paris, and registered for the $500 Salute to Warriors tournament tomorrow (read: today). Absolutely no line to register, and I was done within 5 minutes (that's what she said).

After checking the WSOP+ app I also knew that Bart Hanson was playing the $10k PLO/ 8 tournament, and I knew which seat and section he was sitting. However, the area where the tournament was played is roped off and only poker media and photographers and such is allowed in there (alongside players and staff). And his table was not close enough to where I could yell out 'yo, Bart!' or something. A bit disappointing, as I had hoped to get a selfie with the man who saved my 'poker playing career'.

I see on Twitter now that he unfortunately busted on day one, but that he is playing the $2500 O/E today. So I will try to work something out for today, even if I have to sit out a few hands from my own tournament to have a quick chat with him.

I then took the Monorail over to MGM Grand, and on a whim decided I could sit in a game there as they had open seating. I bought in for $300, and took a seat at what must be one of the most boring tables ever. No one was talking, no one looked like the were having fun, and the game played very tight in general.

Very few hands to report of, as I was super card-dead for the short time I played here (2h15min). First interesting spot is when a new splashy gym of Persian descent made it $12 from UTG (he sadly didn't stay for long), a random guy calls in mid-pos and I have AQo in SB. I decided to 3-bet, but sadly miscalculated a bit and only made it $45 (should be at least $50-$55 here). They both call, and we go 3-ways to 7-7-8 rainbow. I have completely missed, and I am a bit unsure of how to handle these 3-way pots when I am OOP.

I decided to check and call if the Persian bet (due to his fishy nature), but fold if anything else happened. The Persian bets $20 (small), but then the other guy also calls. I have to fold then, and the second guy wins the hand with 88 (flopped a boat) while the Persian blasted off with AJo and had to rebuy for another $200. Turn was a Q fwiw and river was a J, so with a bit more luck it could have been me who got this donation.

Then I find KK, which is a welcome sight and I make it $10 from EP1. A player in MP then decides to 3-bet me to $25, and although I didn't know much about this guy he didn't seem like a huge OMC or anything. So I am not folding here; I 4-bet to $72 only to get a quick fold. So clearly he was just trying some kind of resteal.

I did however also lose a bit on dealer change Bomb Pots (NLH, $6 per person), and struggled to run a stack up. Especially as I was very card-dead for the most part here as well.

I did however get KK one more time after there is a raise to $10 and two callers. I am on the button and decided to make it $60. This is the second time I have squeezed in ten minutes (I had AKo in an earlier hand), and I was hoping I would get some kind of action. The preflop-raiser thought about it for a bit, but ultimately everyone ended up folding.

Then it was back to more folding, and although the table was very tight I had nothing to work with. No suited connectors, never two broadway cards, no medium pairs, nothing. Obviously I shouldn't complain when I get KK twice and AK once in a 2 hour session, but apart from hands like these it was just completely bottom of the card distribution.

The game was super boring and I was getting tired, so I just cashed out after 2 hours and 15 minutes with a loss of $33 USD.

I walked over to Target to do some quick shopping, and while in the area I also took the escalator up to the 3rd floor of BLVD (the new shopping centre). They have a pretty decent view from up there on the roof:

Bit of a boring day results-wise and playing wise, as I was in general very card & spot-dead. But that's the poker life sometimes, and even though I should win several hundred dollars every day I guess I can live with the tiny loss of $28 USD for the day.

Cash Games:

Hours played: 16h 00min
Won/lost: -$192 USD
Hourly rate: -$12.0 USD

Tournaments:

Won/lost: -$152 USD (3 played)

Today is the $500 Salute to Warriors, my WSOP-debut. I think the key word for the day have to be patience. We have 40 minute blind levels and 50,000 starting stack, so there will be a lot of room for play. But it's important to not try and win the tourney the first few levels, but rather wait for good spots (within reason).

I will come back with some more thoughts later I guess, for now I just have to get ready and see if I can squeeze in a quick gym-session before play starts as well.

Just put together you are (presumably) the same BigWhale as in the CLP discord [emoji23]

Hope you get a chance to run into Bart. Had drinks with him and a few other CLP subs the night before the ClubWPT Gold Freeroll. Fascinating guy to talk to.

Run pure today! Had to cancel my WSOP debut trip so living vicariously through the updates

Good luck to all of us today in the Salute!

Glglgl[emoji846][emoji857][emoji41]

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

Here we go:

50k chips, 40min levels. Play 17 levels today, hopefully. Dinner break after level 12.

Maybe organize some kind of 2+2 meetup first break? That is, if I by some miracle survive that long.

Beat: 10-handed.

I always have a difficult time analyzing bluffs of mine that are unsuccessful in the moment. Was it a good play that didn't work, or did I just foolishly give away some chips?

In the moment it's tough to not be results oriented/hard on myself. There is the conundrum of, do I just put it behind me and not let one mistake (if it was one) lead to another, or do I think it through some more to assess the play of not only myself but also my opponent?

I am not really one for getting overly emotional about poker (except when I bust poker tournaments, then I am severely pissed and just wants to get out of there ASAP), but there is truly something cool about actually being registered in an offical WSOP-event, and walking into the huge ballroom at Paris along with thousand of others:

My starting table didn't seem overly tough, as only 2-3 of them had any registered WSOP-results. I also Hendon Mob'ed some of them along the day, and didn't find anyone with gigantic earnings.

The second hand of the day I find AQo from 3rd pos, raise to 500 and everyone folds. I quipped to the table with zero energy in my voice that "I just won my first ever hand in the World Series of Poker". That one got a few comments at least.

A bit later it folds to Small Blind, which is a US grinder with a few recorded results. He raises to 600 and I have no less than AA in BB. I make it 2200, but sadly he folds.

One player at the table was very spewy pre-flop and seemed to be on tilt after losing some pots. At the 200-300-300 level, there is a raise to 1000 from a UK player, before this spewy guy makes it 3000. It folds to me in BB with AKo, and I notice that both these guys only have around 20-25k left. Not going anwhere in this spot, so I 4-bet to 10500 hoping that the tilted guy will just go with whatever he 3-bet. No such luck as both folded, but still a decent pickup.

But then things started to go downhill a bit. The US guy to my right makes it 800 from 3rd pos and I have black AQo right behind him. I considered 3-betting, but he had been pretty snug so far so I ended up just calling. We go heads-up to a decent Q-7-6 flop with the latter two in hearts. He bets 1200, and I briefly considered raising but end up calling.

Turn comes Th, so the flush fills. He checks, and I decided on the standard Bart Hanson-approach here and bet 1/3 pot. I made it 2000 into 5000 (so a bit bigger), and he actually check-raises to 6500. Alarm bells were going off in my head a little, but I decided to call to see what he would do on the river.

River comes another Q so I make trips. He actually checks, and this is an interesting spot. I think I have a clear value bet against hands like AA and KK with a heart, or maybe he even have KQ with Kh (the King was not a heart on the flop). I don't think I can go too big though, so I just make it 5100. He snaps it off, and after I show my hand he shows 54hh for a flush. So much for being snug I guess, but he flopped a monster draw and got there on the turn. Maybe the turn should just be a fold for me, since I have no outs if behind. But as played I think that I must bet the river.

I also got to say hello to 'TJ Eckleburg12' on here, and he seemed like a really nice guy. I went to the first break with 41600 chips.

After the break I got into another dicey situation. It folds to the cutoff, which is a female player from LA who had joined the table 30 minutes or so into the tournament. She has around $55k in cashes on Hendon Mob, and definitely seemed like a decent player. In my mind however, she was a bit overaggressive pre and had some poor hand selection (hands that can easily be dominated) in a few spots. She raises to 1300 at (200-500-500), and I have black AJo in SB. Hand functions best as a 3-bet, so that is what we do and make it 4500.

She calls quickly, and we see 2-3-6 two spades, one club on the board. I have As for what it's worth, so I start with a bet of 3100. In hindsight I think a lot of my range can go bigger here though, so I would not hate something like 6500-7000 instead. She calls very quickly again, and the 6s rolls off on the turn.

This one felt close to me, maybe I could check-call since I am out of position and the board is paired? I still should have a lot of outs against most of her range I think, and I might even get a free card at times. On the other hand, I think the she was still liable to float a bit too wide, and I have picked up actual equity now. So I decided to bet 7200, only to see her raise to 17500. Icky spot for sure, and I ended up folding. While I didn't necessarily believe her, I could be drawing dead against her very strongest hands and possibly having to face an all-in even if I make my hand. Furthermore, I have not been splashing around and my line should look fairly strong. And I also hold the As, which means that she cannot be making any kind of blocker bluff to represent the nut flush.

An older American had joined the table recently, and he was the archtypical example of what you want in a WSOP-event. He was completely clueless, played very straight forward, and clearly telegraphed a lot of about his hand strength as soon as someone put a bit of pressure on him. He is involved in the next hand, when he limps in for 500 and I make it 1800 from the button with 77.

Heads-up then to Q-6-4 two diamonds, and after he checks I bet 1500. I can still get calls from hands like 67 and from diamond draws, and I also think he is the kind of guy to take one off with 55, 33 and 22 here (putting me on AK obv). He calls, and we see an A on the turn. He checks, and I decided to check this one back to see what he does on the river.

River is a 2 and he now leads for 2500. I know he is never in a million years betting Qx here for value, and although he is fishy I don't think he has too many Ax here. The only Ace he gets to the turn with has to be a suited diamond Ax, otherwise I just don't see it. I have black sevens, so I don't block any missed flush. I decided to make a very optimistic hero-call here, only to get shown A9dd. The funny part is that he even seemed unvilling to show as soon as I called, and didn't think he would be good. But I read the situation correctly, although one could say this might be the wrong guy to bluffcatch - simply because he won't have enough bluffs.

The very next hand the guy to my right raises to 1200, and I have AKo in cutoff. I 3-bet to 4000, and get a quick fold. When the second break arrived, I had 19100 chips.

After the break we play 300-600-600, and after it folds to me in the cutoff I make it 1300 with QJss. The French player in SB calls, and we go heads-up to A-5-5 with As. He checks, and this seems like a standard board to bet. I make it 1100 and he calls. Turn is a J, which I liked as I am now beating his 66-99 or similar that called once on the flop. He checks, I bet 2500 and he thinks for a bit before calling.

Plan was to check back river, but then it comes another J. He checks again, and after thinking for a bit I grab all my remaining chips except a 5,000 chip behind. I was obviously hoping this would look to him as someone who doesn't want to go broke, but that saves a little bit behind in case I get called. He spends close to a minute thinking about it, but eventually call the bet (7000-something) and I am obviously good.

Up to over 30k then, but I fell down a bit through some random small pots and eventually found myself at around 20k when blinds went up to 500-1000-1000. A new-ish player at the table then limps in for 1000 from UTG, and I find AKo in mid-pos. I raise to 3500, the Frenchman calls in SB, before the UTG-limper now makes it 8500 (!). Ah, the good old UTG limp-reraise.

I took close to a minute with this decision as I was genuinely afraid to run into AA here. That said, the opponent had already lost 20k of his starting stack on a dumb bluff and seemed a bit gambly in his playing style. After looking over at him I also didn't think he appeared to be super strong. So I ship it in there for 19k or something, and after SB folds I do not get snap-called. That is good news, and after thinking for a bit opponent informs me that he will make a donation. He calls, and shows 89cc.

Thankfully we get a very safe flop in A-T-5 all hearts, and with another 5 on the turn he was drawing dead. We are now up to 45k, which feels amazing after having been down to around 15k at one point.

I then raise 88 from UTG to 2500 (600-1200-1200 now), only to see a player from the UK make it 8500 from MP. It folds to an Argentinian who looked to be in his late 50s but who was playing decently. He 4-bets to 16000, and I have to fold then (I would have called the original 3-bet I think). They get it in pre with JJ (UK) versus AA (Argentina), and the latter holds.

(8 on the flop btw, so I would have gotten a full double most likely if he didn't wake up with Aces).

A while later the same UK guy makes it 2600 from early pos, and the Asian woman calls on the button. I am thinking this is a decent squeeze spot if I have anything remotely playable or something that is blocking good hands. KQo qualifies as that, so we make it 11000 from the Big Blind. To my surprise the original raiser almost snap-calls, while the woman folds out.

K-4-5 two spades seems like a decent flop though, and I start out with a bet of 6000. He calls fairly quickly, and turn is another 5. The pot is now 35k or something, and I only have 27k left in my stack. Furthermore, I just don't think he is trapping here and KQ rates to be the best hand most of the time. So I jam all-in, and opponent goes into the tank for close to a minute before folding. Too bad, I would have liked getting called there based on his hesitation.

While the 'Salute to Warriors' tournament is going on, there is also a $2500 mixed PLO/8 and Stud/8 tournament. That tournament has none other than Bart Hanson in the field, and I managed to make contact with him on the Crush Live Poker Discord-channel. So he was kind enough to stop by where I was playing when he was on break in his tournament, and I went up and talked to him for a minute or two. I told him thanks for saving my 'poker career' and that I would never be here playing a WSOP-event if it wasn't for his material (all true), and also asked if I could get a picture with him.

In hindsight I should have taken a better picture, but I didn't want to bother him as his break was almost over + I was still playing obviously and had to get back to the table. But since I have already posted my ugly mug in another TR a few years ago, here is me and Bart Hanson:

Not much happened the next level, and I went to the third break with 55600 chips. Blinds would be 1000-2000-2000 afterwards. I randomly ran into 'mrbaseball' on the way back after the break, and we chatted for 2-3 minutes. His stack was similar to mine, hopefully he managed to run it up!

After the break a female player joined the table as a max late-reg, and in the WSOP-app I could see that she only had the alias 'Juliejulez17'. I know I have seen that name before, but I wasn't able to figure out her real name. She started by limping her first hand for 2000 from UTG and I have AQo behind her. I bump it up to 7000, and get calls from cutoff plus the limper. The flop is a decent A-J-5 two clubs, and I take it down with a bet of 9000.

(she busted only around 30 minutes later with AJ versus AQ, and she just didn't seem that motivated to be playing at all, it seemed like).

Blinds go up to 1000-2500-2500 and a pro-looking guy raises to 5000 from MP. A new player to the table (who came from a broken table at Horseshoe) puts of 2500 for a limp, clearly without having seen the initial raise. He does however quickly put in the 5k instead when the dealer informs him about this. I have AQo in BB and around 24 big blinds, and decided to just ship it in. The caller is obviously very dead money here with a weak range, and the pro is likely raising fairly wide. He actually goes into the tank for a bit, but both of them end up folding.

As a sidenote, I think the dealers I encountered were much better than feared. 2-3 of them seemed a bit unsure of some showdowns at times and one was very slow, but apart from that I was happy with the quality. At least of those that came around at my table.

Blinds go up again to 1500-3000-3000, and the same guy mentioned above limps in for 3000 from 2nd pos. I have QJo in 4th pos and decided to isolate to 8000 (a bit too small). It does however do the trick, as we go heads-up to K-8-3. He checks, and I am thinking it should be easy to win this hand. I start off with a bet of 7000, only to see him check-raise to 16000. With no overcards to TP I just quickly fold. Maybe I could be a bit sticky and call here and hopefully get the check on turn, but my stack was a bit too low for that I think.

Losing a hand like that is costly, as I am down to 48k now. I didn't have to dwell on that for too long however, as we have a limp for 30000 from the OMC-fish mentioned earlier, and then SB (also new to the table) jams for 43k. I have TT in BB, and I also ship it in there. The limper folds and we get a flip versus AJo. Thankfully the board runs out clean with (3-7-Q-8-9), and we suddenly have 95k in our stack. New high point of the day, and it feels pretty good.

I was going to take a picture of the stack, but I didn't have time. The older Argentinian raises to 6500 from mid-pos, and I have 77 on the button. I call the raise, Small Blind (a younger Argentinian who played decent) calls as well, and BB completes. So we go 4-way to K-7-3 rainbow. Lovely stuff, and they all check to me. I bet 10k (into 29k), and both SB and BB calls while the raiser folds out. Turn is an 8 and after they check to me I bet 22k with plans to jam river. Both end up calling as well, and I have this amazing feeling of suddenly having a huge stack at dinner break (which is just 15 minutes away). I just don't see any way how my hand could not be the best here.

River comes an A, and the Argentinian in SB open-jams. On the turn I was halfway wondering if he was slow playing a set of threes, and now that he jams I am fairly certain of that. BB thinks for a few seconds before folding, and I snap-call. He turns over 88 for a turned set of his own. Ouch. And what's even worse is that he covers me with around 1000 chips, which means that I am OUT of $500 Salute to Warriors just before dinner break.

My steps felt very heavy the first few minutes as I took the walk of shame out of the Paris ballroom, and I had trouble processing what had just happened. I knew that I had done nothing wrong, but my mind was all set on winning this 220k pot and having a huge stack that could potentially even have taken me into the money. Instead I get a gut-punching reveal and have to face having zero chips instead. That one hurt.

In hindsight, his river jam into two people is extremely strong and he is never even remotely bluffing here. He either has 33 or 88, or at the very bottom something like K7s for two pair. But I obviously block that, and I also think he would have played that hand a bit faster on the turn when I continued to bet. I must admit I didn't stop to think before calling his all-in, but to be fair it wouldn't have made any difference. I beat 33 and lose to 88, and since a flopped set is a bit more likely than a turned set I still obviously have to call.

Despite that dark ending to my WSOP (at least for official events), I am mostly very happy with how I played and it was really fun playing such a deep structure and a big field. 10-handed poker is a bit annoying though, both because it's cramped and because it's at times very hard to find good spots. But I do think I did a reasonable job in finding some good spots to pick up chips, and otherwise just staying patient and finding a dream spot - only to have it be a nightmare.

Although tournaments are expensive when you don't cash, I am tempted to play one tomorrow as well. There is a $250 Monster Stack at Golden Nugget at 11am, which could be tempting. Alternatively, there is the 'Midsummer' $300 2-day event at South Point, but that one has multiple starting days so I don't have to play it tomorrow. Or maybe I should try one of those Resorts World tourneys that other Trip Reporters have been firing. I will decide tomorrow.

GL to any of the 2+2'ers still alive in Salute to Warriors!